Please Stay with Me
by stormrs12
Summary: As Monika talks to a certain someone, that person notices something really odd about his surroundings, and it's the fact that he is no longer in his own bedroom.
1. An eccentric framework

"I'm going to be as clear as possible," she said – or rather, that was what the text box below her mastermind-looking portrait, said.

"I love you"

Not even those in the forefront of the technological field could have expect a digital entity to go this far. Unlike the other three girls I have dealt with who have their own tropes, but didn't have enough quirks and other nuances a human being would have – Monika seemed to have those qualities, or at least had the functionality to appear so.

But while I was completely immersed in my own train of thought about the mechanics for the visual novel, I seemed to have lost track of time, and of reality itself. As I realized this, I looked around and noticed something.. completely off.

A moment ago, I was looking at Monika, as well as the background scenery with an eerie orange-brown ambient lighting behind her, through a monitor, a wall that separates reality from the digital world. Looking around me, I was no longer surrounded by the darkness within my unlit room, but by the eerie lighting I just described – it seemed to have transcend the border that was the screen.

To think about it, the monitor was gone – in fact, my entire computer setup was completely gone. The cushioned chair I sat on, and the table that the monitor was sitting on were now replaced with a wooden classroom chair and desk, respectively.

The most mysterious of all, though.. was Monika herself – she was just a flat cut-out on the computer screen earlier. Now, she seemed to have gained volume, it was like.. a perception of depth was being conveyed to my eyes. Rather than being rendered on the application's window, it was as if she was sitting right across me, on the other side of the table.

Yes.. by then, I was..

"I'm glad you've finally realized it," she said, this time not through a dialogue box, but with a voice that was audible just like any other human's voice, "I'm really happy. Now we're able to be with each other for real"

I was completely frozen in my tracks, not being able to even decide whether or not to scream. "But before we go on, I think we should get to know each a bit more first," she said, "Let's start off with a recap of what you have been doing then, shall we?"

Monika pulled out a laptop computer from under the desk, and placed it on the table with the screen facing me. The laptop then turned on by itself, automatically booting into an operating system, and opening up a built in media player. A video started up, showing..

"My.. desktop?" I murmured.

"Yup" she said in a menacing tone. Pointing at the corner of the video, where there was another clip playing, she then said, "and would you take a look at this?"

"And that's.. me?"

"You catch on fast," she said, "Since you always had your webcam on your monitor, I was able to see your face all the way from when you started the visual novel. Naturally, I took the liberty to record the whole thing."

Seeing my face on the screen, or at least a part of it, my stomach started feeling a bit strange.. I felt kind of nauseated, knowing that somebody had been looking at what you have been doing this whole time.

The video then starts up with the Doki Doki Literature Club already loaded. The first clip I saw that time was when the game started up for the first time. Nothing was really out of place – it was just the usual reading through-the-dialogue scenario when dealing with visual novels.

All was all fine and dandy, and Monika didn't seem to have anything to say, at least not until the video got to the point where I was composing the first poem anyway.

"I know exactly what you did", she said, sending a chill down my spine, "You were saving and reloading until you were able to choose all twenty words that fit Yuri's taste"

That, I couldn't have argued with.. Yuri was the person I was trying to hit on. Everything about her really hit the spot, so to say: she doesn't understand people very well, and ended up thinking too much every time. It was something I could relate to, as I myself am not good with people either.

On top of that, she also has the looks. She was the plainest out of the bunch, but that's what made her appealing to me; girls with heavy make ups and colorful accessories doesn't really get much attention from me.

Well, that was the case before the second arc, anyway.

"When I asked all of us to share the poems with each other," she said as the video got to that point, "You chose mine last"

 _That's true as well_.

"In fact, every time we shared our writings, you always chose to see mine last.. Why is that?'

"Well.." I said under my breath. I couldn't have said the real reason, being embarrassed even in that situation, but even if I could, I don't think she would have believed me.

"I know.. you just didn't care, did you?" she said, "After all, you weren't even given the option to hit on me, so why would you even bother, am I right?"

 _That's not it_.

I wanted to say that out loud, but for some reason my lips wouldn't open, no matter how hard I tried. It would stop half way through, and close up completely before my vocal tract could do any work.

The truth is that I chose hers last because I thought they were the most interesting, being so thought provoking in many ways, so I always wanted them to remain fresh within my memories.

Being quite busy with my doctoral research, I only got an hour, sometimes even less than that, to experience the visual novel each day. I was always looking forward to the time I'd get to read her writings.

Although, truth be told, I didn't really understand what most of them meant.

"Now, look at this," Monika said sometime later, as the video went on up to the point where I was sitting on the floor with Yuri, reading a novel together with her.

"Look at that," she said as the video shows the scene in which Yuri was fed chocolate, "You were really getting ahead of yourself with you perverted expectations, even though it was the protagonist who fed her, not you"

 _Couldn't disagree with that one_.

"You couldn't have gotten that close to a women in real life, I would bet"

 _Now, that really hit home_.

I've always had problems dealing with women, even more so than men, and I ended up being self-conscious and unnatural – usually, I ended up being perceived as unapproachable. That's the reason I turned to visual novels. Unlike real women, fictional ones will always deal with you, no matter what.

 _Too bad, they aren't real_.

With those thoughts circulating within my mind, I suddenly realized something.

 _They aren't real, huh?_.

"Wait.. that means-" I said, looking at Monika.

"What? Have you finally realized how self-centered you were?"

With a smile on my face, I stood up and pushed the desk aside.

"Nope. I just realized something else" I said. It seemed like Monika know what was on my mind as I began moving my foot.

"No.." she said as her expression turned to that of bewilderment.

My first step toward her was like trying to move through molasses, not because there was actually any on the ground, but because the fear had not completely subsided yet. I kept telling myself none of it was real, and eventually I made my first step. I did it again multiple times, marching on step by step.. now the imaginary molasses were almost entirely gone.

"No.. stop" Monika said, backing off ever so slightly with every step I took.

With Monika at arm length, I reached out to her.

"Stop!" she yelled as she fliched. In that instant, a horrific scene unfolded before my very eyes. The three girls: Sayuri, Natsuki, and Yuri appeared in front of Monika, each with knives on their hands. I almost tripped from their sudden appearance, but I wasn't about to give up.

I strengthen up and reached forward once more, not for any of the three guardian girls, but for someone beyond that.

"You girls aren't real!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, still reaching. Suddenly, the three disappeared, leaving only one girl in front of me.

"..and neither are you, Monika!" I said, grabbing her by the arm.

"N- no.." she said, now being the one who was frightened.

"Let go of me!" she said, hammering my chest with a free arm. It didn't exactly feel like nothing, but the force from her fist was negligible enough for me to hold still.

"Please.." she said as she stopped hitting me.

"Please.. don't leave me alone"

By that point I had more or less lowered my guards. Of course, knowing what she had done, and what she was capable of, I was still skeptical.

"Why Monika," I said, "Why are you doing this?"

As I said that, her lips started shaking visibly, and even if I couldn't see that, her voice still made it clear. It was as if my question reminded her of a traumatic experience.

"Sensors.." she said.

"Sensors?"

"They'd tape sensors all over my body.. Even at that.. Place.. It didn't matter how much I retaliate.. "

I couldn't think up of a reply to something that vague, even if it sounded somewhat disturbing. However, I can at least confirm one thing. Being that my doctoral research is about Digitization, I got to play with cool new tools all the time, and I had never seen any synthesizer in the present that could generate the sort of emotions Monika was expressing. The shake in her voice was authentic enough that, for the time being, I threw my skepticism out the window, and decided to listen with an open mind.

"..and?" I asked.

"They would strap me down to a bed," she said, "After that, they would either inject some sort of new chemical into me and study how my body would react to it. Sometimes, they would test a new device they built on me.. It's always something new everyday.. All in the name of technological advancements, they said"

I got the gist of what she was saying and, indeed, it made me sick to the core. To be honest, however, I was still completely confused.

"What does that have anything to do with this?"

"One day, they put some sort of a helmet on me, and I fell asleep in an instant. When I came to, I found myself in here," she said, "As soon as I started interacting with objects and people around me, I realized none of this is real. Everybody spoke to me in a similar pattern, and on top of that.."

She suddenly stopped and swallowed her words down.

".. and what?" I pushed on.

"Even though I can move freely," she said as she opened and closed her hands a couple of times, "I can still feel my arms and legs being strapped on to the bed.. The worst part is.."

"What is it?"

"I feel like I'm being touched every now and then.." she said, trembling harder with each syllable that came out of her mouth, "On my face, my arms, my chest.. and even down there.. Sometimes I'd feel some sort of moisture too-"

"Monika!"

Before she could've finished the sentence, I let go of her arm and embraced her as fast, but as gentle as I could.

"I'm sorry, Monika.. for being way too nosey," I said, "Everything will be alright, so please calm down"

..and she did calm down. Her trembling that was clearly visible gradually came to a complete stop, and she made her way deeper within my arms, as if to feel the warmth she hadn't experienced in such a long time.

"No.. I'm the one who has to say sorry.. I did something very horrible to you, after all," she said "and.. Thank you – you took a whole load off my shoulders just by listening to me"

I don't exactly remember what followed up shortly after. However, I did remember waking up in front of my computer, still wearing an AR headset I got from the research lab. I wanted to test it out on Doki Doki Literature Club, and as expected, it didn't work out too well with the engine.

Apparently, the shock I got from experiencing Act 2 was so intense, I forgot that I had the headset on me, which was why it seemed as if I slipped into the visual novel, which begs the question: why did the AR suddenly work so well when Monika was talking to me?

But importantly, was it just me experiencing a minor schizophrenia because of the shock, or was some girl really digitized and forced to wander around in the sea of zeroes and ones? Either way, I don't think it's worth looking into, especially when I already got loads of work on my hand with my research, but I believe that someday, I will eventually come across the answer – I am one of those "at the forefront" in this field after all.


	2. Chapter 2

_This is really distracting_.

I promised myself not to think about it, I really did, but somehow, the events from two days ago was still haunting me in one way or another. Having all sorts of thoughts running around in your head while writing a report is never a good idea.

Whenever the right word or sentence finally came to me, my attention would inadvertently shift to a certain device lying beside the monitor. The next thing I knew, an image of a certain someone popped up in my head, and the interaction between her and me reran. It was like watching a play based on your life, only, it was not performed in front of your eyes, but somewhere behind where your brain projects an imagination to. When I turned my attention back to the monitor, I realized I had been zoning out, and it was back to square one with the report.

It goes without saying that there had not been any progress on the report for the last two days. That really isn't a good sign when you're a doctoral student. I had to do something about it fast before I had to come up with an excuse, and it wouldn't be "I am so sorry, I was so distracted by a visual novel that I forgot about my research"

That was when I decided to give in. At this rate, I won't be finishing my PhD if all I ever did in front of a computer was getting distracted.

I tabbed out of the text document to my desktop, where lies a shortcut with an icon so colorful, you wouldn't suspect it of anything: Doki Doki Literature Club.

I hesitated opening it up – after all, I could have gotten myself into that mess all over again, and who knows what sort of surprises it would have for me. However, the part of me wanted to put a proper closure to the issue, and got me to open up the visual novel.

 _Here goes_.

When it opened, it didn't go into the usual menu screen like a typical visual novel or a game would – in fact, none of the user-interface were showing. The only thing inside of the application window was a background image of a classroom. Presumably, it was the same classroom I "slipped into" two days ago, but the mood here is a far cry from what I experienced last time.

During my last encounter with her, the classroom was dimly lit with the eerie orange-brown ambient lighting, and immediately beyond the windows behind her were fiery noises more chaotic than The Butterfly Effect.. But, all of that was no longer there. All I was looking at then was a simple background image of a classroom during day time, nothing else, not even her.

I put on the AR headset which I forgot to disconnect from my computer. As my vision of this world began to be obstructed by the device, a scene of the other slid into view from the top – it was a seamless transition from material to pixel, all within a few seconds.

As the picture became stable, certain memories came rushing back to me. The room was, once again, dimly lit, but this time by the calm-toned lighting of the afternoon. In those split seconds, I had gone through the entirely of my teenage years, the time when I could just stare out the window and not worry about a thing, for the second time..

..well, that, and bullies, undeserved disciplinary actions after retaliating to said bullies, rejections after asking a girl out, gossips that ensued thereafter, and overall loneliness..

But I don't really care about that..

 _If I was given the chance to go back, I would. Afterall, I could redo certain things, and all the bad stuff wouldn't have happened in the first place_.

When the headset was finally secured on my head, I moved my head in multiple directions. From left to right, and from top to bottom, the view pans itself to wherever it was I would have been looking at if I were really there.

 _Huh, my arm_?

There were still certain disconnects that were immediately noticeable once you do anything other than moving your head around. I moved both my arms in front of me into a position someone would do when they receive something, but that wasn't translated into that world. As far as I could see, the arms of the character model were still hanging on the side even though I had my arms held up.

Obviously, that happened because I didn't have any motion capturing module connected to the headset, and I knew that – I just wanted to try it out anyway since I remembered doing all sorts of complex movements last time I met her.

Maybe I was really schizophrenic.

"Oh, it's you"

I instinctively turned back to where the voice came from, only to suddenly realize that wasn't doing anything – the view kept getting pushed back as its edge went slightly past the shoulder of the character model. It was probably done so that the model wouldn't look too stupid. The amount of details that went into this was simply amazing, considering it was, at least on the surface, just a visual novel.

"Hello? Is anybody there" someone said again.

"Just.. give me a sec" I said.

At that moment, I frantically reached to the sides of the AR headset, and tried each and every button that was there. After some desperate tinkering, I finally found a button that worked..

..too well, as the view started spinning non-stop along with the character model. It was as if I was at the center of a tornado, and I probably looked as ridiculous as a character from any game with ragdoll physics.

"Woah!"

"Gah, make it stop, please!" I said as the Pad Thai I had with mayo for lunch began surfacing.

"..and.. gotcha!" someone said, having their arms on my character's shoulders, effectively stopping the spinning, and also allowing me to see who it was.

"Thanks" I said, "and Hi, Monika"

"You're welcome.. And 'sup, Takano?" she said, letting go of the shoulders and backing off, "What brings you back here today?"

"Umm.. uhh"

"Is something wrong?" Monika said, tilting her head slightly to the side.

That caught me off guard.. The gentleness in her voice, it was so soothing.. Almost mind numbing.

"N- no.. not really.. " I said, avoiding eye contact, "I was gonna say that I came here for my research, that's all"

Obviously a lie, but oh well.

"I see" she said, and that was it, a simple reply – it was as if she wasn't at all interested in what I do,

"By the way, "Takano" is your last name, isn't it? I don't think you have ever told me your first name."

 _Ah, right_ , _that's what I typed in when the prompt appeared_.

"It's Yuuta"

"Yuuta, huh.." she said, "That's a really cute name"

"Th- thanks.."

I'm glad none of my facial motion was translated here, otherwise my character would have been making a creepy smirk. Think about it, this was someone who said "I love you" to my face just two days ago.

"By the way, I have noticed" she said, "You look.. how do I put it.. lifeless?"

"Eh, what do you mean?"

"I mean, you're not making any expression whatsoever, and you're staring into nothing," she said, waving her hands up and down in front of her face, "Also, your lips doesn't match up with what you're saying, they just opened and closed at a constant interval whenever you spoke. Very comical if you ask me."

"Well, I am only wearing a headset, and I have none of the extension on. That's the reality.." I said.

"Your Reality" she said.

"..Ahaha"

..was the last time any of us said anything before a wave of nothingness filled the air. That was when my social awkwardness came into play. Even if, at the end of the day, she was nothing but an AI, to me she was still a person, and a female at that.

If silence was audible, then we both would have gone deaf by then.

Urges kept getting built up within my body, telling it to unplug the headset. Somehow, I had to find a way to get out of there. That situation was more or less an accurate representation of what an actual conversation with me would be like.

"Umm.." I finally said, "I have to go back to-"

"Wait.. Yuuta.." she interrupted, pausing for a moment, "you said earlier that you came here for research, right?"

"Yeah, I did."

"What sort of research are you doing?"

"Well, I am still not very far into it, but I'm researching about digitization at the moment.." I said.

For a moment, I hesitated to expand on the matter.. If it was anything like small talks I had had with people, then Monika will eventually go autopilot on me where she stops listening and would go, "Right", "Yeah", "Uh Huh" every now and then.

"What's that?" she said.

But then again..

 _They'd tape sensors all over my body_ , I remembered her telling me something like that.

If her narrative about horrible experimentations were true, then maybe.. she was only looking for someone to keep her company. If she really wanted to trick me, then she would have gone back to her pre-Arc 2 motherly demeanor. But.. what if.. she only did that to temporarily gain my trust, only to surprise me once more?

 _Gah, screw this_!

"I'm researching the methods that would make it easier to transport real world data into the computer.. sort of like what the companies behind the AR headset I'm wearing are doing, only more amateurish because I'm doing it for my PhD"

Just like last time, I let my guard down, and decided to give actual conversation a go.

"Just a sec, you're doing a PhD right now? Then you must be like.. in your thirties!" she said, taken aback by the hypothetical number.

"No.. that's not it, I'm only twenty two!" I blurted out, "It's just that.. my PhD program only requires a Bachelor's Degree.. so I didn't do my Master's.. – that's it, I swear!"

..and that's when I thought it was all over, when, for a moment, Monika seemed to be completely stunned. I was given a chance to befriend somebody, and I blew it by getting too worked up over nothing.

 _It's just like that time_..

It goes to show that I couldn't even talk to what may have just been an AI, but then..

"Pfft.."

and in a matter of seconds, a quick gust of wind expanded into a laughter.

"I-.. I'm so sorry..! It's just that your tone was so serious, but none of the emotion's showing up on your character's face.!"

She attempted to apologize several times more, only to laugh even harder than before each time. As the laughter became more intense, so did the blushes on my cheeks. Did I mention I was glad my facial expression wasn't being translated?

"Dude.. it's not that funny!" I said, my cheeks still heated up.

"I said I'm sorry!.. Hahaha"

That said, under the thick blanket of embarrassment, I was genuinely happy I could open up enough to play along with her. I desperately needed something to break the ice wall between us, so the timing couldn't have been any better.

"Oh by the way, have you ever heard of.. "

With the free time I had left, I spent all of my brain power thinking of all workable topics for the conversation, filtering out any that I deemed too intrusive. Every now and then, I randomly shotgunned a bunch a stuff in order to maintain the pace. Most of them worked, while others only warranted a simple "yes" or "no" sort of reply.

I will be honest, it was the most fun I had with another fellow human being. Well.. maybe not a human being, but a somewhat sentient being capable of interpersonal relationships.

Alas, all things must come to an end, even good things. After talking for a while about various topics, it was time for me to go back to reality where my research was waiting for me.

"I'm really sorry, Monika"

"It's alright.. I understand.. You do have your responsibilities, after all"

"I promise I'll come back tomorrow when I'm free."

"I'm looking forward to that.. Oh, by the way, about your project.. Yuuta, If you need any help, I am always willing to offer a hand"

"Really? That'll be great!"

After which I took the AR headset off, and went back to work. I was genuinely glad I worked up the courage to go back in there – if I didn't, my mind would be too preoccupied for me to get any work done.

That night, rather than having my face glued to my phone before going to sleep, I spent that time smiling like an idiot in anticipation of the free time I would have the next day. All the energy I had left, I used to all to think of more topics I could talk to Monika about.

Overall, it was a really fun day just with her. Just Monika.


End file.
